Flight Controls

The tree main parts of the flight control system are the ailerons, rudders, and the elevators. The ailerons are used to control the roll of the plane. The downgoing aileron increases the lift on its wing while the upgoing aileron reduces the lift on its wing. A side effect of using the ailerons is adverse yaw. Adverse yaw is a yawing movement in the opposite direction as the roll. They are usually found on the tailing edge of the plane. The rudder is used to control the position of the nose and yawing motion of the aircraft. The rudder is the moving section on the rear of the vertical stabilizer. It works by changing the effective shape of the airfoil of the vertical stabilizer. The rudder input insures that the aircraft is properly aligned to the curved flight path during a maneuver. The elevator is the moving section of the rear horizontal stabilizer. It is used to generate and control the pitching motion of the aircraft. The elevators work by changing the effective shape of the horizontal stabilizers airfoil.